Mass Effect 3 The new Era
by Legio
Summary: A story that picks up right after Mass Effect 3 ended. "Destroy ending" with slight alterations. Rated M for language and some future content. R&R at your leasure! Small update, the story is on hold up until the extended cut DLC is out on all platforms.
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer: Mass Effect 3, original characters, places and lore elements are the property of Bioware/EA.**

**Author's note: It's been a while since I've been moved to write a fan fiction, but having recently complete Mass Effect 3, and being somewhat content with the ending I've got I decided that despite the popular opinion the provided endings do leave space for fan continuation with some slight altering. So read and review, I hope you'll enjoy it.**

**Location: **Solar system high orbit of planet Earth, Citadel debris field

**Date: **September 21st 2185, first day of a new era

**Mission: **Recovery

**Priority:** Absolute

«Fleet command we have a visual» – the static overlayed the voice of the shuttle pilot for a moment.

«This chunk looks bigger than all the others, scans indicate that there might still be pressurised atmosphere left inside».

The officer overseeing a console that tracked the shuttle's progress towards what remained of the biggest void capable construct in the history and an erstwhile center of galactic civilisation turned towards an ageing man in alliance uniform behind her.

«Sir, it's been almost 24 hours, there's little hope that with the damage sustained and the atmopshere leak anyone could be left alive in there.» The man's eyes didn't move from the display, not an omni-display everyone would think common only a day ago, but an obsolete LCD display that was hastily rigged to the damaged system.

«Proceed with the tracking of an LZ, if there's still breathable air inside that thing, there is a good chance we'll get lucky».

«Aye-aye Admiral. Search team Lazarus, you're cleared to land as soon as the suitable entry point shows up on the scanner».

«Copy that fleet command.»

The shuttle silently glided along the large subsection of the Citadel that was drifting uncontrollably in the void following the massive explosion that ripped the station apart. The explosion that for some obscure reason managed not only to obliterate the Citadel and the Crucible, but also spawn a shockwave that destroyed the mass relay in solar system, and shut down the whole Reaper fleet in it.

It wasn't the only one out there, with the ammount of wreckage and escape pods littering the space hundreds upon hundreds of small craft were flying to and fro with a single purpose, rescue those that could still be saved. The hope was a thin one, the Reapers were nothing if not trough with their tactics. The giant fleet, consisiting of thousands of ships from across the galaxy was reduced to less than a third of it's original size. The lifeless husks of destroyed reapers still floated in the void too, as brooding and intimidating in death as they were in life. No ship has yet dared to approach any of the behemoth derelicts, for fear of the lingering effects of indoctrination.

«Search team Lazarus, scanners indicate that there is a suitable entry point one point five kilometers from your location, transmitting the coordinates to your navigational system now» The officer turned to the Admiral behind her again «Sir, we may have a lead»

The admiral nodded «Excellent leutenant, I will return to the comm room for the debriefing with the Turian and Asari fleet command, patch trough to me directly if there is a major find.».

«Aye-aye Admiral Hacket, sir!».

The shuttle bearing code name search team Lazarus flew past a few smaller pieces of debris and eased it's way into a large hole that was blown out of the Citadel's hull from the inside.

The shuttle landed on a patch of even ground just large enough to accomodate it's size and engaged it's grav locks. Inside the crew compartment four people donned their breather helmets and primed their weapons. All of them were humans three male marines and one female, wearing a reinforced bodyglove of white and black.

«Good thing, we managed to procure those old beauties from the planetary defense stock!» One of the marines remarked patting the assault rifle in his hands. An old pre first contact war assualt rifle of human design, not based on the mass effect field technology, which all of the sudden started to malfunction all over the place.

«Right, a huge fucking deal it's gonna be in vacuum, you might as well start hauling rocks at the husks if we find them in there.» The other marine chuckled. "Scans showed that there is still some atmosphere left in there, so we should be ok with what we have." The third marine bearing Major insignia on his shoulder guard punched the unlock switch on the pressure door. The barrier hissed and lifted, opening a scene of utter devastation to the team.

There were piles of trash and broken pieces of broken mechanisms everywhere. The dim flashlights and the head-lamps of the shuttle were the only source of illumination.

"Well not much we can find in this area, guess we need to solve the problem of cutting trough the wall without depressurizing the room behind it." Major waded his way trough the wreckage and stood before the intact wall that separated the room they were in from the intact space inside the structure.

"Lt. Frisk, we can try to clear the path for you to bring the shuttle closer to the wall and attach the mag locks to the section of the wall, you think the pressure system inside the shuttle will hold?"

There was a wave of static from the comm. unit and then the pilot's voice "Should be possible Major, but I don't think it will hold for more than 15 minutes with the limited power reserve".

The Major looked at the female member of the team. "You think we can manage a sweep of the stable section in that time?"

The woman checked the small handheld device "If we're lucky, which considering we're still alive after all hell broke loose on us, we are, yes." She said. "All right, men get to work!" Major bellowed at the two marines, and holstered his rifle to move a large fragment of the hull out of the way.

In about 30 minutes of hauling the wreckage trough the hole in the hull they managed to clear a space near the wall, large enough to park the shuttle right beside it.

Sitting at the controls in the cockpit Lt. Frisk engaged the emergency magnetic lock mechanism on the blast door, designed for docking in extreme conditions and it attached the shuttle to the wall. Standing inside the pressurized compartment Major Coates, his two marines and their female companion removed their helmets and prepared to cut trough the wall.

Miranda Lawson watched as the marines attached the plasma cutter to the wall and turned her head away from the bright flash that disintegrated the metal. "Weapons primed and look alive, men!" Coates commanded and took a step inside the hole.

Miranda followed close behind the soldiers. The space behind the wall was not much different from the one they just left behind. A timer on her PDA started to tick the 15 minutes they had before the mag locks ran out of power and the intact atmosphere would start to leak out of the wreck. There was practically nothing left intact inside. Collapsed support columns and pieces of machinery were mixed with something disturbingly reminiscent of human remains. Some of the lights were still flickering which along with the intact atmosphere hinted that some of the power sources on the remains of the Citadel still worked.

"Not to sound pessimistic or something, but I don't see how anyone could survive in here" One of the soldiers whispered.

Miranda spared the man a sideways look "We have to be absolutely sure" she said trough her teeth.

Major Coates moved to the left of the room sweeping his flashlight from side to side, while his men started to search near the far and right walls. Miranda took furtive glances at the screen of her PDA checking the time they had left and looking at the life sign indicator of the scanner, which remained depressingly flat. "Major! Got something, looks like a human body!" one of the marines yelled. Miranda felt as if a shock went trough her body and rushed towards the soldier. His flashlight was pointing on the ground where the remains of a console and some strange device made from a glasslike material were covering a prone form of a human lying face down on the floor. From the pose of the body and the amount of external damage on it, it was obvious the man was dead. Miranda felt a lump forming in her throat as Major Coates lowered to his knees beside the corpse and rolled it on it's back. Miranda found herself sighing in relief as she stared at the mangled remains of the Illusive Man's face. Most of the skin was either burned away or ravaged by the falling debris, but his artificial eyes and the definitive and once handsome features were easily recognizable.

"So that asshole finally got what was coming for him…" Major Coates remarked. "Heh, so that's what that son of a bitch was viewing as human supremacy?" There was no blood on the body and in damaged areas, not human tissue but reaper nanites and implants, now dull and lifeless, showed trough the damaged flesh. The dead leader of Cerberus looked like a Husk wearing patches of human skin. Miranda shivered, wondering if it has always been like that, and if she was now looking at what might have awaited her had the things gone differently. "Hey look, it seems like he wasn't killed in the explosion!" Major Coates indicated the obvious bullet hole on the corpse's chest near where his left lung would be. "Well guess that proves that someone was alive in here long enough to get rid of him, keep searching!".

Miranda took one last look at the man who she once viewed as humanity's best hope for survival. The timer on her PDA showed that they had 9 minutes left, and she hated the fact that the savior turned monster was the only clue to the fate of the Citadel they found. She moved towards a panoramic window, it's transparent material cracked but intact, that overlooked a large chamber where the remains of the Crucible docked to the Citadel could be seen.

"Time's running short, it seems we're out of luck ma'am." Major Coates stood beside her.

"I just can't believe that after all this we won't even be able to bring something to remember him by…" Miranda felt the relief of seeing that the dead body they found was not the one she feared it would be slowly evaporating and being replaced by despair.

Major Coates sighed, "He will be remembered miss Lawson, we, the people who saw him, who fought by his side will goddamn make sure he is remembered a thousand years from now on!"

Miranda nodded, "Let's get moving Major, it was a good chance, but guess we'll have to try our luck again…"

"Major! Miss Lawson! We have something!" The marine sergeant urgently holstered his rifle and grabbed a hold on the massive chunk of rubble trying to move it.

Miranda, Coates and the third marine rushed to his side, the men immediately lending their strength to his efforts. Miranda pointed her flashlight on the spot beneath the rubble, her eyes watering and her breath catching up in her chest as she saw an N7 emblem in the light and a small blip traced itself on the line of the life sign monitor in her hands.

To be continued….


	2. Chapter 1

**Author's note: It seems I made a small chronological mistake at the start of the prologue as september 21st 2185 can't be the date of the Reaper defeat, since ME3 takes place in 2186;)**

**Chapter 1**

**Location:** Systems Alliance flagship  
><strong>Date:<strong> December 21st 2186 first day of a new era  
><strong>Mission:<strong> Regroup  
><strong>Priority:<strong> Top

The communications room of Admiral Hackett's dreadnought was a buzz of activity. Deck officers and engineers were running around making adjustments to the systems, trying to handle the avalanche of data and chatter from Earth and the fleet and keeping track of the frequent reports on the rescue operation. In the middle of this chaos Admiral himself stood like a pillar of calm resonating his usual stoic presence.  
>"We need to deal with the communication failure ASAP, Admiral!" the image of Turian primarch on one of the screens in front of Hackett was distorted and half of his speech unintelligible due to static.<br>With the massive failure of communication systems and most of the mass effect based tech after the shockwave of Citadel's explosion the allied forces were forced to switch to the emergency communication sources that were not designed for and were now under massive strain under the sheer amount of data transmitted trough them.  
>"Measures are being taken primarch Valerius, but you must understand that our top priority right now is the rescue operation. With the casualties we took and the blackout it may take some time to asses the situation."<br>The primarch looked as if he was about to say something but the just nodded.  
>The Asari councilor, as far as Hackett knew the only surviving member of the council was not content with his answer though.<br>"You do realize that you're making a huge assumption here do you admiral? We have no idea what happened! For all we know, we just lost the citadel, the crucible and our fleet is decimated! What if that explosion was a reaper diversion to lead us in a false sense of security when we are at our weakest so they have time to move reinforcements here for a killing blow?"  
>"Well considering the mass relay is now a cloud of space dust it will take even them a while.. - the primarch chimed in. And not to disagree, but they Were winning and such a diversion looks like a waste of time and resources. The reapers appear to be dead now, so are their ground forces."<br>"And communication from the Geth fleet indicates that their network nearly overloaded when the shockwave caught their ships in it and they still can't reestablish connection to the Geth outside solar system." Hackett added.  
>"Do we have a status on Shepard, Anderson or the Normandy?" the Asari councilor asked.<br>Hackett fell silent for a moment " No, we lost contact with Shepard and Anderson when The Harbinger landed on top of their position in London. Normandy was last contacted when it tried to reach the Citadel moments before the blast... After that it's all dark."  
>"We'll have to assume the worst then" the primarch said after a pause.<br>"Yes, sadly we do. But right now we must make sure that their sacrifice was not in vain, and to do that we must concentrate our efforts on rescue and recovery missions and after that coordinate on bringing the communications online."  
>"Admiral... Sir there is an urgent message coming to your personal frequency from the search team Lazarus" the bridge comm officer's voice suddenly appeared in his earpiece.<br>The only outside sign of emotion that Hackett showed on what he knew might either be the best or the worst news in a while was a short blink. "Patch them trough lieutenant."

"Disengaging the magnetic locks, hang in there it's gonna take some maneuvering to get us out of here!" lieutenant Frisk said over his shoulder to the four people who hastily worked on organizing an ad hoc sick bed in the shuttle compartment. The marine corporal with a medic corps insignia on his armor unlocked the container with medi-gel and chirurgic tools.  
>"Just don't take too long LT. We're looking at every second making a difference here!" Major Coates yelled while strapping a security belt over the body of a man on the bed.<br>"Life signs are faint and growing weaker! Get us out of here!" Miranda yelled.  
>"On it ma'am."<br>The shuttle maneuvered trough the cramped space and dodged the jutting sections of the structure in it's way. With a hiss the atmosphere started to vent from the hole the marines left in the wall along with smaller debris. Right after leaving the inside of the Citadel fragment the shuttle accelerated, the pilot doing his best to dodge the rubble in it's way.  
>"Pulse fading, breathing weak, he lost a lot of blood ma'am it's a wonder he's even alive."<br>"He's been trough worse corporal, we need to stabilize him long enough to get him to a proper med bay!"  
>Major Coates turned to the cockpit "Leutenant, ETA to admiral Hackett's ship?"<br>"20 minutes sir, there's a lot of shit on the way, and the engines are acting up."  
>"Make that 10 LT. You're not driving a school bus!"<br>"Roger that, but better hold on to something."  
>"Apply medi-gel here! And here, that laceration looks bad, get rid of that piece of armor!And some one get a message trough to Hackett!" Miranda was working her PDA on a speed almost too fast to be humanly possible. The medic was following her instructions as fas as he could, constantly wiping sweat from his brow and swearing under his breath.<br>"What the hell!" the pilot suddenly exclaimed.  
>"What's wrong?" Major Coates moved to the cockpit.<br>"There was a blip on the scanner and I think I just caught a visual of another shuttle craft near that hole we just left trough, but now it's gone." Frisk craned his neck as if it would allow him a better view.  
>"Probably some large fragment,keep focused."<br>"No Major, I am positive it was a shuttle signal but not an authorized signature."  
>A moment later The scanner blinked again and this time Coates saw it himself.<br>"The hell... We're supposed to be alone in this sector, contact the admiral's ship and mention this along with the good news."  
>"Aye-aye! This is search team Lazarus reporting to Admiral Hackett, I repeat this is search team Lazarus reporting to admiral Hackett..."<p>

Hackett' took his hand away from his earpiece. He felt his hands shaking something he never felt before as he took a breath before saying what he was about to say.  
>"Ladies and gentlemen... Commander Shepard has been recovered. Alive"<br>The comm room fell silent for a moment even the equipment seemingly growing quiet.  
>What happened next was the loudest and the most genuine cry of collective joy the Admiral has ever heard in his whole life.<p>

To be continued... 


	3. Chapter 2

**Author's note: Wow quite an overwhelming number of favorites and additions on the story, I am flattered. Thanks to all the people who liked my work so far. I am sorry about the somewhat crappy editing but since I can't divert much time away from my work but still would like to update frequently, I will just update the editing of the chapters when I have more free time on my hands. **

**Anyway, enjoy the new chapter, and I promise that next one will pack some action and feature more characters.**

**Chapter 2**

**Location:** unknown  
><strong>Date:<strong> unknown  
><strong>Mission:<strong> unknown  
><strong>Priority:<strong> unknown

He was falling, He couldn't see anything or even remember how he got here but he could definitely feel that he was going deeper and deeper into the total darkness around him.  
>Was it the end? Was it the after life? Just an eternity of darkness and oblivion, with only your memories and an overwhelming sense of total helplessness left to you. There were voices too... Whispers, fragments of phrases, words. He couldn't really tell if they were memories or just the quirks of his tormented mind.<p>

Maybe it was the end for him, maybe there was nothing left other than just closing his eyes, letting his mind drown in the ocean of whispers that haunted this strange nothingness and be lost forever. Or maybe he had to try and stop this fall, to find a purchase, an anchor, something to hold on to. He came a long way, he did things no other human, hell no other living being organic or synthetic could ever hope to achieve, yet in the end he was just a man, just a fragile mortal man, not a fiery god of war that shot lightning from his eyes and crushed asteroids with his bare hands that some of the media tried to depict him as.

But was he just a man? He died once and was reborn, even then he did something no one else could! Why would he give up and let the oblivion claim him now when even death itself was a foe he conquered? He had to fight, he had to find a way, he was born to fight for others but this time he had to fight for himself.  
>"Shepard.." another whisper in the darkness.<br>Yes, his name was Shepard, funny that he couldn't remember the last time anyone called him by his given name. Well he could but that seemed to be a whole eternity ago.  
>"Shepard!" the voices were all calling him now in unison, but he knew he had to shut them down. The voices were trying to drown him in the darkness to make him slip and loose control as he was just beginning to reassert it.<br>Suddenly there was a flash in the darkness and he felt as if his fall stopped. Four glowing golden orbs appeared in front of him arranged in a pattern he knew well and learned to hate.  
>"Shepard!" the voice hollow and mechanic boomed in his ears followed closely by the deep metallic rumble of the Reaper sound assault.<br>He cried out in pain pressing his hands to his ears, but here in this strange darkness Harbinger's war cry rang in his head, so he couldn't silence it.  
>"You're gone! I've beaten you!" he screamed in defiance.<br>"Your victory is hollow."  
>"You're not real!"<br>"You fought for preservation, yet in the end you lost everything!"  
>"Get out of my head!"<br>"Weak, pathetic, fragile!"  
>The light of Harbinger's "eyes" was glowing brighter and brighter and seemed to move closer, threatening to consume him in it. Shepard desperately fought the mental onslaught, he tried to shut his eyes, cover his ears, to keep himself focused, but the overwhelming sensation of loosing himself was too strong, he knew he couldn't withstand this torture for long.<br>In this moment of desperation he found that the only way to stall the painful oblivion was to cling to the memories of who he was and who he fought for. Faces and moments from the past came to him, Earth, Eden prime, Citadel, Illos, Nos Astra, all of the places he visited, all the wonders he saw, and all the horrors that the galaxy threw at him.  
>Then there were people, Garrus, Ash, Anderson, Liara, Tali...<br>"I wish we had more time!" he wished that too. He dearly wished it, it wasn't right it wasn't fair that the only promise he would fail to fulfill was the promise given to the woman he loved. His toughest of Tali brought another wave of memories of a brief but passionate time they spent together, of the happiness they brought to each other, and of the miracle of organic and synthetic living in harmony they managed to create.

Shepard opened his eyes and stared into the visage of the Harbinger.  
>"My victory is not hollow, I fought for those I care about and for the whole galaxy. You are dust now, a simple human has beaten you, go to hell and rot there!"<br>With a final defiant roar the orbs flared into supernovas, too bright to look at, and then suddenly they were gone and so was the darkness. Shepard found himself standing in a small grove that he saw in his nightmares after leaving the assaulted Earth.  
>Only this time it didn't look as a nightmare, it was brighter, less distorted and the shadows were gone. He looked at his arms, he wasn't wearing the burned and melted wreck of his armor anymore and there was no blood. Another sign that all of this had to be a dream of some sort. The question was, how to wake up.<p>

"Shepard Commander!" Shepard whirled around at the voice he easily recognized.  
>"Legion?" the Geth was standing right there in front of him, it's strangely expressive flashlight head slightly cocked to the side.<br>"Legion! How is that possible? What is this place?"  
>The Geth looked around " I am at a loss Shepard Commander, the concept of being and mind is still fresh, but I would assume that there is a human word Limbo that fits this place."<br>"Limbo? So am I dead?"  
>" No, your body still functions, and so does your mind, this place is more like a safe haven where your consciousness has retreated in order to be preserved."<br>"Well that's a relief I guess, Garrus would have hated that kind of afterlife, no bars and all.. But why are you here? And why was I seeing the Harbinger?"  
>" It is possible that all you're seeing and experiencing here is your mind's work based on associations. The old machine is associated with death and so your mind gave it's image to the threat of physical destruction you faced. This place is associated with safety, perhaps some place from your past on Earth." Legion made his way to the bench standing under one of the trees and sat there, a surprisingly human action.<br>"What about you?" Shepard asked following the Geth and sitting near it.  
>"I am not sure... It is possible that my presence is just your mind giving a familiar form to your self preservation instinct.."<br>"Or?"  
>"When you interfaced yourself with the Geth network, parts of the code that made the platform known as Legion might have copied themselves onto your implants."<br>"So... What you're saying is that there is a part of you still alive in my head?"  
>"That is a simple way to put it yes. A more certain resolution can be gained upon closer study of your physical body." Legion hesitated "Does that unnerve you Shepard Commander?"<br>"Not really, no... As long as you don't try to steal control of my body and use it to kick old people." Shepard wasn't sure what he hoped to gain from cracking a stupid joke to a Geth, but this whole situation was absurd enough.  
>Legion twitched his head slightly as if considering a reply "That wouldn't be my intention, and even if it was I am sure that the fragment of code is too small to attempt such an endeavor."<br>"You're still referring to you as I instead of we, so that really must be the You."  
>"Possibly, sadly that is as good as evidence as it is possible to gain now."<br>"So... what now?"  
>"You must attempt to leave the limbo and return to conciousness, remaining here for long might damage your brain and lead your body into a coma."<br>"How am I supposed to do that? I don't even know what state I am in."  
>"You already managed to stall the advance of death with your force of will and your connection to creator Zorah. But if you linger here long without acting it will be back, and it will be harder to fight."<br>"How do you know that?"  
>Legion stood up "I am again unsure of the answer. I simply know that it is my purpose here to guide you."<br>Shepard shook his head. " But what if I am moments from death? Or I am buried under the ruins of Citadel, or worse yet... I failed?"  
>"I understand your doubts Shepard Commander, but remaining here would only stall the inevitable for a short time, while leaving will let you face the situation head on, which has proven to be the most efficient way for you in the past."<br>"Thanks I guess... Well how do I wake up then? I don't suppose pinching my arm will work?"  
>"Minor self mutilation is an inefficient method."<br>"And there I was about to say I finally started to enjoy our conversations."  
>"I am sorry Shepard Commander, old habits die hard."<br>"Did you just...?"  
>"Yes, as for the way out, I would assume that if concentrating on the things anchoring you to your life helped you overcome the worst stage of your current condition, a focus on your own being and personality will provide for the opening you need."<br>"So I need to focus on the things that made me a person I am?"  
>" I believe you must engage in an activity that is labeled by human word meditation, cut yourself from your surroundings and focus on who you are."<br>Shepard stood up and rubbed his temples. "I've never done anything like that."  
>"You should be able to do it, I can't provide you with further help as my knowledge on the subject is limited."<br>Shepard thought for a few moments. He had no idea how to meditate, nor what it involved, funny that someone who used guns to solve problems his whole life was now forced to use a simple and peaceful practice he never needed before to save his life. Legion remained nearby just staring at him with his flashlight. Finally Shepard nodded.  
>"Okay I'll give it a shot, guess I am lucky that the only person to see me do it is a Geth who wouldn't mock me."<br>"Too bad I can't take pictures."  
>"What?"<br>"Nothing, proceed Shepard Commander."

Shepard sat cross-legged on the ground and assumed what he thought would be a suitably meditative pose. "Another thing to learn besides dancing once all this shit is over I guess."  
>He closed his eyes and started to think, he thought of his childhood and teenage years on Earth, a time he spent on the streets with the gangs, he was a whole different person back then, selfish, greedy, ignorant. Then came the military, he enlisted because of the problems his previous life caused, a way to escape the law and the paying off of the debts. Torfan, they called him the butcher because of the body count he left there but the mission was a success, for the end justified the means, at least it seemed that way back then. Memories continued to flash, Normandy's first flight, Saren, Sovereign, his team, no his friends, the first real friends he ever had in his life, Virmire and lieutenant Alenko's sacrifice, the collectors, his "death", Cerberus the Illusive man, being reunited with his friends, being given a second chance. He fought for humanity and all life, he learned of friendship and love and sacrifice, there was nothing left of the butcher of Torfan he was a new man a better man, yet he was a fighter, a survivor. And in that moment he realized what it all meant. He was alive, after all that has happened he was still alive and nothing could hold him back!<br>His name was John Shepard and his story did not, would not end here, for him it was only a new beginning.

In a flash the world came crushing down, and a heavy breath tore from his chest, he was no longer seated in a silent grove deep in his mind's realm, but was laying on a bed surrounded by blinding whiteness of artificial lights. He blinked trying to shake the dizziness and let out a wave of violent coughing.  
>There were cries of alarm and people rushed to him, his vision was blurred and he could only make out the faint outlines. One of the silhouettes moved right in front of him.<br>"Shepard! Shepard! Lay still, it's going to be okay!" He knew the woman who spoke.  
>"Miranda? Where..."<br>"Hold on! You're safe it's going to be... My God Shepard..." Miranda fell silent for a moment "Your eyes!"  
>"Wha...?" As his vision began to clear he found himself staring into a reflection of his own face which now scored a few more scars, but that wasn't the case. His reflection was looking back at him with the blue artificial glow of Illusive Man's eyes.<p>

To be continued... 


	4. Chapter 3

**Author's note: As usual thank you for everyone who added the story to favorites or set it on alert. Special thanks to people who posted the reviews. I appreciate the feedback and as one of the recurring topics was the length of the chapters I am working on increasing it. As promised, this chapter features more characters and some action.**

**Enjoy!**

**Chapter 3**

**Location: **Uncharted

**Date: **December 22 2186, second day of a new era

**Mission: **Survival

**Priority: **Top

In every culture that had a religious belief there was always a vision of Heaven. A place where the souls of the just and good dwelt after the physical death. It varied greatly from culture to culture but one thing was always in common it was beautiful.

Looking at the landscape before him Jeff Morou could almost believe he was dead and in heaven now. It was an utopical visage of clear blue sky, and deep green foilage, with small hills and waterfalls visible trough the forests. He wasn't dead though he was very much alive so were the people who he practically managed to deliver from certain death at the cost of his ship.

The Normand SR-2 the ship of legend was laing on the ground like a downed bird, it's hull covered in burn marks from emergency atmospheric entry and holes and deformations from the harsh landing. Entire left engine was missing, Jeff wasn't sure how it happened but he was damn well sure it meant they were stuck here for a long time. They called him Joker, but the current situation didn't leave much to joke about.

«So, what do we have?» Jeff turned around to a group of people standing near the crashed ship, some of them humans some aliens. There was a huge pile of crates and packages nearby and the crew worked on accounting the resources they had.

The woman, who spoke before, lt. Commander Ashley Williams was presiding over the process, as an acting commanding officer of the ship, not that rank meant much to these people, they were more like a big family by now.

«The resources we have should last us about a month, two if we can ration everything strictly.» Specialist Samantha Tailor was businesslike as usual, despite the clearly present fear and nervousness she tried to hide.

«Great…. Just great…» Ashley rubbed her brow, «Ok what about the food for the dextros?"

"That's a bit worse LC. With only 2 dextros on board our supplies of provisions suited for them is limited, but by my estimations it should be more than 2 weeks before it will become a problem." Two crew-members in alliance uniform brought another crate from the airlock this one bearing a weapons and ammunition label on it.

"Speaking of which… where is everybody? I know Vega is still in the med bay, heard his protests on Dr. Chackwas's no physical strain regime."

Samantha shrugged "Well most of the crew is busy trying to salvage what can still be salvaged from the ship, or trying to get the power back online to activate the communication system and distress beacon.. I saw Garrus about half an hour ago, he said he needed to do something on the crew deck. No idea where Liara, EDI or Tali are."

Joker limped towards them, he was still feeling as if every bone in his body was on fire, but so far he refused to be treated by Dr. Chackwas, he was feeling useless enough as it was right now without laying in the sick bay while everyone else was trying to do something.

"EDI said she needed to run diagnostics on her systems, there were some errors spawned by the shockwave we were caught in." he said "And I saw Liara heading into the forest, she probably wants to scout our surroundings, as for Tali, well I guess she needs some time alone, considering the circumstances…"

Ashley nodded grimly "Yeah… I understand, I just wish they wouldn't wander out alone, we don't even know where we are and what to expect, and most of our weapons and equipment not working".

"No! Doctor leave me alone! I am not staying in that bed, I am fine ok? Fine, look I've got a scrap or two, and maybe a sore muscle but it's nothing!" The yelling came from the air lock. A moment later a huge man in gray t-shirt emerged from it followed by middle-aged woman in medical uniform.

"Don't be an idiot lieutenant! You need to stay in bed for a while, you've got a concussion for Christ's sake!"  
>"No, I don't! What am I? A little girl that can't manage a hit on a head or two?"<p>

Lieutenant James Vega approached Ashley in a few wide strolls.

"Reporting for duty XO!" he proclaimed saluting and wincing momentarily as the quick movements caused nausea.

"Lieutenant Commander, I must voice my protest at Lt. Vega's behavior! He is disturbing my work and the proceedings of other crew and most importantly he is causing me a headache!" Dr. Chackwas glared at the marine with annoyance.

"No such thing! I am fit for duty!"

"No, you're not and if you don't return to the sick bay this instant, I swear I will knock you out and drag you in there!"

Ashley rolled her eyes, "James, you're acting like a spoiled kid." She said.

"Fuck that! I am not laying around while everyone else is up and running!"

"Lieutenant, go get some rest, you've been trough hell, you need to grab some R&R, that's an order!"

James, looked down at Ashley the inner fight between his usual defiance and his adherence to military discipline visible on his expression. Finally he relented and sighed.

"Aye-aye LC…" He turned to Dr. Chackwas "But I am only staying there as long as it takes for the damned vertigo to stop!"

"With that constitution of yours it will prove to be a short stay, unless you continue to hinder my treatment."

The marine and doctor returned to the ship. Joker, Ashley and Samantha stood silent for a few moments.

"Guess the prothean guy would have been a lot less trouble…" Joker murmured.

"Joker…." Ashley groweled.

"What? Allright, allright I know not funny not in the least."

"Come on, we need to take stock of what is still working, if we're stuck here without a single working weapon we may be in more trouble that we know."

With that Ashley quickly approached the weapons crate.

The sun here was strangely bright, even trough her mask's filters she could tell that it was a lot brighter than on any world she visited before. It was also strangely quiet around, for someone accustomed to constant noise the near total silence of this strange forest was a mystery. Wasn't a forest supposed to be a noisy place, full of animals, birds, insects and whatever? At least that was what she knew from the literature and vids she saw, she haven't really spent a lot of time in forests before. Tali slowly made her way trough the foliage watching her steps carefully, and trying to keep track of her surroundings not to get lost. At last she found a place she was looking for, a small cliff rising above the treeline just about 20 meters ahead of her. Quickly assessing that the climb is an easy one she gracefully made her way to the top of the cliff.

It was a great view, she could see Normandy laying among the trees not far from her, and people coming to and from near it. Despite all odds, this ship and the people it was carrying survived. Even in it's current state the sight of Normandy brought comfort and a feeling of safety…. And of great sadness.

Tali felt tears beginning to well up in her eyes again as the sight of the ship reopened the fresh and the most deep wound she had in her life. She was used to loss, all of her people were up to recently. He was gone, Shepard, the first human SPECTRE, the hero of citadel, the man who fought to stop the cycles of extinction, the man she loved. The moment the Citadel exploded, the moment Joker had to turn the Normandy around and make a dash to the mass relay to avoid the blast a last desperate measure to save their lives, she was hysterical, she didn't care about the fact that everything around was falling apart, that the ship was on the verge of breaking up, all she was able to do is cry his name and trash in the arms of Garrus who tried to comfort her. Then came the crash and all went black. When she came to she could swear she heard John's voice calling her, but when she opened her eyes he wasn't there… He will never be there again. But she lived, they all lived, as desperate as their current situation looked like she knew they owed it to him that they were still here. He would have wanted it that way, to give his life in order to save those he cared about…

Tali just sat there and stared at the bright sun of the strange and beautiful world, trying to loose herself in the memories, she didn't hear the quiet steps behind her.

"Shepard used to tell of a place on Earth called the Tropical Forests. This looks familiar." Tali spun around almost jumping at the suddenness of the soft voice.

"Liara?"

The Asari, stood on the edge of the cliff just a few feet away from her.

" I am sorry I saw you up here alone and thought that maybe you'd want someone to talk to."

Tali was silent for a moment, then nodded and gestured for Liara to sit nearby.

"I remember that, I used to scan the infobanks on the Normandy for a while to look it up, it seemed so… intriguing. A place ona civilized world completely left to the nature…"

Liara smiled, "He loved his planet, he had a hard life there but nonetheless he cared about his home. And I am sure he would have loved to show it to you".

"He'd probably just end up showing Garrus to the nearest bar in the end." Tali chuckled, although it was mirthless.

"I am worried about you two… I wish there was something I could do.." Liara hugged her knees and rested her chin on top of them.

"Thank you… I know that we didn't always see eye to eye, but you were always there for us, for John as well.. I mean it, thank you Liara."

Liara laughed suddenly, "I suppose I was just a bit cold towards you ever since all that Shadow Broker business, largely because I was jealous…. Seems so petty and funny now, I know that he liked you from the moment you met on the Citadel."

"Really?"

"It was obvious, just as it was obvious that you liked him, you really fir each other, and you shaped him to become the better person."

Tali felt the Asari's words warming her heart and lessen the pain a bit. It was a bit unexpected, coming from Liara.

"I must confess something…" Tali said after a pause. Liara gave her a questioning look.

"I was jealous too. Back when we were up against Saren. I envied you greatly, I hated myself for it but I did. You are so graceful, so beautiful and so gifted… I felt like a shadow next to you… I know it's well stupid, but that's how I felt back then and still somewhat feel right now…"

"I saw the picture.." Liara said with a wink.

"What?"

"The picture in Shepard's cabin. You have nothing to be jealous of, in fact it is me who should feel that way."

"Oh come on, you're just saying it to make me feel better!" Tali punched Liara's shoulder slightly.

"No, really I mean it!" Liara answered with a soft laugh… "Look at us, the Sahdow Broker and a Quarian admiral sitting here chatting like teenagers!"

"John did shape miracles.." Tali said with a sigh.

"He'd be happy for us. He'd be happy to see you smile and laugh after all we've been trough."

"I hope that Ash's belief is right and wherever he is, he is looking at us now."

Liara was about to say something else, but suddenly there was concern on her face

"Wait… did you hear that?" she whispered.

Tali tensed, "No, nothing". Then she heard it a scraping sound coming from behind them like something sharp moving on the rocks. Liara made a small gesture for her to stay still and held her breath.

The sound came again, closer this time, Tali couldn't help but crane her neck a bit to see what was behind them. She nearly wished she didn't. Sitting on the edge of the small cliff behind them was a creature she saw only once before but whose image she could hardly shake from her memory. A tall brutish body and a face that looked like a monstrous death mask, a Yahg. The creature, small violently intelligent eyes stared at them with hunger and hatred.

"We're in trouble…" Tali whispered, slowly moving her hand towards the dagger strapped to her leg.

"On the count of three, dash away, I'll slow it with my biotics and follow you, we need to get to the ship, no way we can fight it alone" Liara said.

The Yahg was still thinking it was undetected and started to slowly approach, it sheer size making it's attempts at stealth somewhat comical, as much as it could be applied to a three meter tall killing machine.

"I am not letting you face that thing alone." Tali said trough her teeth.

"I am not facing it, I'll just distract it, besides I have an experience fighting those things so to say... one.."

"Liara"

"Two"

"I am not…!"

"Three!" Liara pushed Tali away and surged to her feet drawing her pistol and raising her hand while concentrating on charging her biotics. Two rounds from her pistol hit the surprised Yahg in it's face, blowing off several layered bone plates in a gush of viscera, but nothing happened as Liara tried to unleash her true power.

"What the…" Liara looked at her left hand in surprise no mass effect field was forming around it, nothing at all happened as if her biotics did not exist. The Yahg roared it's pain and fury and charged the surprised Asari.

"Liara!" Tali yelled as the brute swinged it's meaty arm and caught Liara on her right shoulder, as she was trying to duck it's charge, sending her flying towards the edge of the cliff. The quarian rushed towards the fallen Asari as she crashed on the ground mere centimeters away from the edge. The Yahg let out another furious roar and stomped it's keg on the ground sending a small tremor trough the rocks. Liara tried to raise herself but collapsed back with a groan of pain, her arm visibly twisted at an odd angle.

"Hold on!" Tali grabbed her by the good arm and threw it over her shoulder. "What happened?"

"I.. I don't know it's as if my biotics are gone! I felt nothing!" Liara was gasping for air and wincing in pain.

Sensing it's prey vulnerability the Yahg growled and started to approach slowly.

Tali desperately looked around for something to help them, the only thing catching her eye was Liara's pistol laying on the ground. She snatched it with her free arm and fired at the monster's head several times, making it shield it's face with it's arms and slowing it's advance. Of course it also served to further infuriate the Yahg and there were only a few more thermoclips left, not really enough to stop something that large. She thought about calling for help, with the creature's roars and the quietness of the forest, she should be heard by the Normandy, but by the time anyone realistically could get here they may be dead.

A final desperate tought entered her mind as she looked over the edge of the cliff, the slope was not completely vertical and with not too much portrusions. The Yahg stomped it's feet again preparing to charge, and Tali made her decision.

"Hold on to me Liara and watch your shoulder!" She said

"What are you? Oh, goddes, you're not!"

As the Yahg rushed towards them, Tali sprung backwards and tensed her body as she and Liara hit the slope starting a violent slide down it. Her suit was taking the worst of it, and she prayed it would prove strong enough to hold intact. They hit a few rocks, started an avalanche of small rubble and finally tumbled to the even ground with a lot of noise and "ows".

"You're crazy!" Liara gasped for breath, but a smile was working it's way trough her grimace of pain.

"No time!" Tali yelled as she looked up to see the Yahg appear on the edge of the cliff. The creature hesitated but it's bloodlust wa obviously stronger than it's self preservation instincts, so it just jumped down the slope and started it's violent slide towards them.

"Run!" Tali held Liara for support and ran as fast as she could in the general direction of the Normandy. Behind them the Yahg landed on the ground with a roar, clouds of dust and rubble rising from the slope around it. The creature started to run almost as soon as it hit the ground with the small gap between it and it's prey growing shorter every moment.

"We're not going to make it.." Liara winced in pain again and her strides faltered for a moment.

"Not if you don't stop complaining Asari princess!" Tali hauled Liara back on her feet and resumed their dash for safety.

"Just run to the Normandy and get help! I'll distract it!" Liara said.

"Like the last time you distracted it? No way that is happening. I've had enough with people I care about martyring themselves."

With four wide stiedes the Yahg was upon them, it's arms cutting trough the air to deliver a crushing blow to the ground just below their feet. Tali stumbled and fell face first on the ground the power of the impact making a warning icon flash on her in helmet display. Liara fell nearby crying out in pain as she landed on her wounded shoulder. Tali spun around and fired the last thermoclips into the Yahg as it towered above them, and throwing the useless pistol at it as a last defiant attempt. She saw murder in the thing's eyes as it recovered from the shots, and moved towards her. Was it how it would end? Being eaten by a monster on an unknown planet? Was Shepard's sacrifice in vain? But if afterlife did exist, maybe they would be reunited there? Maybe there was a chance she would see him again. She resigned herself to her fate as the Yahg reached for her, it's growling and Liara's screams growing dull. "John, I am coming…"

With a sound like a thunder crack half of the Yahg's head exploded in a torrent of bones blood and brain matter. The Monster staggered back, it's incredible constitution still keeping it alive despite the terrible damage. Anothre booming sound and the creature was completely decapitated it's body whirling around and slamming into the ground with a tectonic force.

Tali cleaned her visor from the gore with a shaking hand, not quite believing they managed to escape their gruesome fate.

"I let you our of my sight for a moment and you manage to run into a thing that would make Wrex scream like a little girl!"

"Garrus!" Tali exclaimed jumping to her feet and turning to the Turian who was casually leaning onto a tree a few meters away his sniper rifle's barrel still smoking.

"The one and only! Vakarian to the rescue!" Garrus said with a flourish.

Liara got to her feet cradling her injured arm.

"How did you manage to get here so quick?" She asked.

"Well with that thing did make a lot of noise…" Garrus pointed at the Yahg's remains with his rifle.

"And… I tought that it was high time you were back so I went to look for you. By now the whole crew should be alerted."

"Thank you…" Tali hugged the turian.

"Aww, don't go all sweet on me, I know you'd do the same for me! And I still owe you for that time in the Collector's base. We should go back to the ship and get you and Liara some medical attention, I can practically hear Dr. Chackwas's grumbling about more people getting into trouble."

"There is one other thing…" Liara said as Garrus held her for support.

"Which is?"

"The Yahg never settle alone… Now I see why it's so quiet here… We should prepare the ship for the night…"

Garrus and Tali exchanged worried looks.

"Things just get better and better!"

To be continued….


	5. Chapter 4

**Author's note: Apologies for the dealy in update publication. I've got my hands full at the moment, so I had to postpone finishing this chapter for some time. It is also a relatively short one again, due to the fact I decided that some stuff would fit the next chapter more. As usual R&R at your leasure. **

**Chapter 4: **

**Location:** Solar system low orbit of planet Earth

**Date:** December 23rd 2186, third day of a new era

**Mission:** Debrief

**Priority:** Moderate

"Begin recording" with a low hum the recording device sprang into life and the lamp in front of him flared.

"Your name and rank."

"John Shepard, Commander Alliance military, SPECTRE operative."

"Date and place of birth"

"Is this shit necessary?"

"Your date and place of birth Commander"

"January 15 2155, Los Angeles, Earth."

"You enlisted in the Marine corps as in 2163, correct?"

"You can just check my file and be done with it!"

"Answer the question Commander."

"Screw you! What's this interrogation for?"

"We are the ones asking questions here Commander."

"Really? I thought we were just having a friendly chat!"

"If you want this to be over quickly you will cooperate Commander."

"Yes, yes I enlisted in 2163, you happy now?"

"It's not about making anyone happy, Commander, it's about checking your integrity."

The room was dark with a single lamp shining in front of him, Shepard had to squint, his eyes hurt and there was a constant humming in his head, either a lingering trace of his trauma or the side effect of what happened to his eyes.

He couldn't remember much of what happened after he came to in the sick bay. He remembered Miranda showing him his reflection in the mirror, he remembered the shock of seeing the artificial glow of his eyes. But after that it all became dark. Now he was sitting in a chair, restraints on his arms.

There was no pain in his body, so he must have been tended to, but his head was swimming from time to time, so they must have used some kind of sedative to bring him here.

The unfamiliar voice coming from the darkness around him returned.

"Commander, what can you tell me of what happened after the strike team Hammer was hit by the Reapers?"

"I lost consciousness, when I came to there was no one around me, I managed to get to the transport beam…"

"Were you the only survivor?"

"No, Anderson made it to the beam before me…"

"Admiral Anderson is MIA, can you tell me something about his fate?"

"He is dead…. The Illusive Man killed him on the Citadel."

"That sounds plausible… The Illusive man's body was found before the search team located you. Did you shoot him?"

"Did they find Anderson?"

"No, his body is unaccounted for, answer the question Commander."

"Yes, I killed him, he was using some sort of implant that granted him ability to replicate Reapers indoctrination… what happened to the Reapers?"

"We'll come to that, Commander. What happened next?"

"The Normandy? What happened to it? Where is my crew?"

"Answer my question, Commander."

"Where is my crew? What happened?"

"Commander…"

"Answer me, damn you!"

There was silence for a few moments and Shepard could swear he could hear a muffled conversation.

"The Normandy is unaccounted for, Commander. We lost contact with it after the Citadel exploded. Now tell me what happened there."

"Unaccounted for? Why didn't anyone take the measures to find it?"

"If you want answers to your questions you will cooperate, Commander."

"Go to hell! Why am I here anyway? Where's Admiral Hackett? I need to speak to him!"

"All in due time Commander, we're taking measures to.."

"Measures? What is this bullshit? Why am I being interrogated? Who the hell are you anyway?"

"Calm down Commander…"

Shepard strained his arms under the restraints gritting his teeth.

"Tell me what's going on!"

"Commander, you're forcing me to apply more severe methods of…"

"Bullshit! Are you trying to scare me?"

A sudden jolt of pain cursed through his body making him cry out.

"Now calm down, and tell me what happened on the Citadel, Commander."

Shepard took a deep breath, fighting the onslaught of nausea.

"When I get out of here…"

"That wouldn't be happening soon if you don't cooperate."

"…I am going to make you pay…"

Shepard shook his head, trying to focus.

"Speak Commander."

"After… after I shot the Illusive man, I lost consciousness, when I came to there was this strange being made of energy… it claimed that it created the reapers and created the Crucible… to maintain a cycle.."

"A cycle?"

"Look, I don't know anything about it… It wasn't very forthcoming with it's motives, only that it viewed all organic existence to be doomed to a cycle of self destruction trough the creation of synthetic… It claimed it was the Catalyst."

"So this being… did it destroy the Citadel?"

"No… it gave me three choices.. it said I could try and control the Reapers, rewrite the DNA of all organics or destroy the Reapers at the cost of all other synthetic existence…"

"This…sounds a bit unrealistic Commander…"

"Heh.. Imagine how I felt at the moment…"

"Go on."

"I decided to destroy the Reapers."

"You managed to create peace between the Quarians and the Geth without eradicating the synthetics and then chose to destroy them?"

"I didn't trust the Catalyst… The other options looked to dangerous."

"Go on Commander."

"Are the Reapers gone? Did it work?"

"Tell me what happened next."

"I don't know what happened next… There was an explosion and I lost consciousness, next thing I remember I am here."

"What became of the entity?"

"I don't know."

"This session is over."

"What?"

"Rest now, Commander."

"Let me out of here!"

"I am afraid I can't do that."

"You son of a bitch! Let me out! I need to know what happened! I need to see find my crew! Why are you doing this?"

The light in front of his face turned off leaving Shepard alone screaming his rage into the darkness.

"This isn't right." Admiral Hackett looked at the display showing Shepard struggling against the restraints in the interrogation room.

"I understand your concern Admiral and share it, but under the circumstances.." The Turian Primarch looked at the Asari Councilor for support.

"We can't take any risks." She concluded.

Hackett shook his head "The man just saved the Galaxy for all we know and you force me to do this to him? Treat him as a prisoner and torture and interrogate him?"

"You know we have no other options Admiral, you saw the report and you saw what happened to his eyes! He has Reaper tech implants!"

"They were put there by Cerberus, yet the Illusive man is dead, killed by Shepard."

"We can't make a clear conclusion, until we are absolutely sure we can trust Shepard." The Primarch said.

"And you think the best way to do that is to put him into custody right out of the med bay? He almost died two days ago!"

There was a commotion and noise outside the observation room. Then the door opened and Miranda stormed in.

"Admiral Hackett! What the hell do you think you're doing!" She shouted right from the doorway.

"Get this woman out of here!" The Asari Councilor exclaimed.

One of the guards moved to stop Miranda but she stared him down, "Touch me and I will tear your arm off." She said in a cold threatening tone.

"Miss Lawson," Hackett raised his hand. "I am as frustrated by the situation as you are, but you must…"

"Must? Don't tell me what I must do Hackett. Instead consider what you must do!"

"You don't have a say in the matter, consider yourself lucky not to be locked up yet. For an ex-Cerberus operative you already have more freedom that common sense dictates." The Turian crossed his arms.

Miranda looked at the alien with a venomous stare, then switched back to Hackett. "You all owe your lives to that man, and you torture him as a reward? Perhaps Cerberus ideology about aliens wasn't that far from truth after all." She said.

"That's enough Miss Lawson!" Hackett raised his voice slightly, something no one would expect from him.

"The situation we're in right now is dire. We have no contact outside of solar system, we have a giant fleet trapped in here with limited resources, and most of mass effect based tech is not working, we need answers and Shepard is the only source we have at the moment."

Miranda chuckled "And you think that this is the best way? Right after you," she pointed at Hackett "gave the news of his survival to the fleet? How do you think everyone would react if they knew what you're doing with him? How about I send the word out that this Commander Shepard is in recovery BS you spread is false?"

"Enough! Arrest this woman right now!" The Asari Councilor shouted. The guards made their move towards Miranda again but this time it was Hackett who stopped them.

"Stand down!" the Admiral glared at the Asari and the Turian, "You're on my ship and you're not the authority here Councilor, please remember that." He turned to Miranda.

"As for you Miss Lawson, don't force my hand. I belive in Commander and I believe that the suspicions about his condition will prove false, but we can't take any risk in the situation."

"You really think that a man who managed to defeat the Reapers can be indoctrinated?" Miranda shook her head.

"I believe it haven't been proven otherwise. And until we have a proof that this all isn't a ruse by the Reapers, Commander Shepard will remain in custody."

"I used to think like you did, Admiral. But Shepard saved my life, and helped me understand a value of other's lives. It is sad that one man's sacrifice isn't enough to teach that to everyone."

Miranda whirled on the spot and stormed out of the room.

"We must take action! If she will make it public we may loose control of the situation completely!" the Asari Councilor said.

"There is already no control Councilor. If our suspicions are wrong, we are committing a crime against all we fought for." Hackett said. "And I am not going to take actions against Lawson."

"You're not the only authority here Hackett." The Primarch said.

"Yet Shepard is a an Alliance soldier and he is on my ship. If you have a problem with that you're free to leave and mind your business."

"And if we're not wrong? If Shepard is indoctrinated, and we are forced to…terminate him? What then?"

Admiral Hackett was silent for a moment "Then we will do what is necessary."

"Mr. Reinolds." Hackett adressed the man, in black bodyglove who was sitting quietly in front of the screen. "Proceed."

"Yes sir." The one called Reinolds said and activated the recording device again.

Miranda moved trough the corridors of Hackett's ship at an urgent pace. Her outrage was raging like a firestorm. Shepard was willing to give his life to bring peace to the Galaxy, to save others and now he was being betrayed by those same people who would be dead and gone were it not for him. She told the Admiral that she used to think that means justified the ends and it was true. She was the one who brought Shepard back to life a year ago. Back then, operating under Illusive man's orders she was willing to implant Shepard with a control chip, to robe him of his freedom. Now she was a different person thanks to him, in a sense she was freed by a man she wanted to control. Now she felt her fury growing with every passing moment. She was angry that she couldn't do anything to free him, she was angry that after all he's done he was still questioned, instead of being hailed like the savior of mankind and every other species he was being tortured and interrogated under the orders of the dimwitted politicians who only a couple of days ago rested their hopes on his shoulders. Miranda stopped and punched the wall in anger, attracting a few worried looks from the navy personnel nearby. She had to do something. She was sure that Hackett was on Shepard's side but she knew he couldn't help him. His hands were tied in the difficult situation they faced. Earth was in ruins, Human fleets decimated and there was a strong military presence of both Turians and Asari in the solar system, which made the game of diplomacy a dangerous and tricky one.

But that left the Quarians, the Krogan and the Geth. Quarians venerated Shepard as their savior for giving them their homeworld back, Geth viewed him as a figure who brought them peace with the organics and the Krogan as a might warrior and a man who gave future to their dying race.

She could use that, but Hackett was also right that making Shepard's imprisonment public would bring them on the verge of another war. She had to be subtle about it. But she would need allies. Miranda weighed everything down in her mind and made a decision. She activated her comm link.

"Lieutenant Frisk. This is Miranda Lawson."

"Ma'am?"

"I need your shuttle to get to Earth. This is urgent."

"I can prep the shuttle for launch in 10 minutes, but I need a clearance."

"I will take responsibility, the matter is urgent."

"If you say so ma'am. Where are we going?"

Miranda smiled slightly. "Contact Major Coates, I need the location of Urdnot Wrex."

To be continued….


	6. Chapter 5

**Author's note. Hello again. Been quite some time since I posted an update for the story, due to me being on a buisness trip right now with limited acess to internet and even more limited free time. This chapter also took me long enough since it's a tying chapter for the upcoming big events and I wanted to make sure everything was as logical as possible. As always a big thank you for everyone following the story, and sending feedback. Enjoy.**

**Chapter 5**

**Location:** Planet Earth London UK

**Date:** december 23rd 2186, third day of a new era

**Mission:** Damage control

**Priority:** Top

The city of London stood in one form or another for thousand years. It was one of the symbols of humanity's spirit and it's drive for achievement. It was a beautiful city that suffered a lot of disasters at the different stages of history. It has never suffered as it did now.

It was a graveyard. A charnel house for millions. The hollowed out husks of skyscrapers stood in the fog rising from the burned out ground.

It reminded Wrex of home… The Krogan chief stood on the pile of rubble that according to humans was a monument marking some military victory from the past. The area around, the Trafalgar square was a site of violent fighting 2 days ago. Now it was a location of massive excavation. Two heavy bulldozers were collecting rubble and corpses of reaper creatures in piles at the edges of the square, with two squads of troopers equipped with flamers incinerating the loathsome remains. The bodies of the alliance soldiers, most of them badly mangled were being collected in special fridge units that were parked in the middle of the square. The ad-hoc hospitals for injured were being erected everywhere, but the flow of patients was understandably low. The Reapers did not take prisoners.

Wrex made sure his remaning krogan warriors assisted with the heavier jobs. After the violent and apocalyptic battle they waged just recently, many of his warriors who up until that moment felt contempt and distrust towards the humans, asari and turians now had a newfound respect towards their uneasy allies. It was an uplifting notion, one that gave Wrex a hope for a brighter future for his race, and at the same time a depressing one, since it took a risk of galactic extinction to finally bring the races together.

"Chief, we have cleared most of the area and nearby city blocks of the Reaper remains, the flamers are doing their best, but there are thousands of those things." Grunt his second in command approached him. The tank-bred's armor and bone plates scoring fresh scars and his right cheek marked by a burn. The young krogan appeared to be proud of his battle injuries though just as he always did.

"Hmph, be thankful that those freaks are not moving anymore, it would have made things much harder". Wrex said without turning.

"I would have preferred it that way. Moving corpses and rubble is boring." Grunt mumbled.

Wrex chuckled at the young krogan's enthusiasm for battle. Chances were Grunt would have his wish soon enough, it still seemed to good to be true to Wrex that all Reaper forces fell dead all of a sudden.

He remembered the explosion up in the sky and a red shockwave that surged all over them, leaving the organics unharmed but eradicating the husks and the grounded Reapers. Or disabling or whatever. It looked like a giant EMP wave only that it didn't fry your brain. There was however a good share of collateral damage from the strange effect. Most of the weapons now malfunctioned as well as most of the omni-tools. And worst of all the biotic implants were useless now. Not a single human or krogan biotic could use them.

Whatever Shepard did up on the Citadel it was a salvation from the Reapers, but the price for the victory still remained a mystery. Including up until recently Shepard's own fate. But a day ago news from the fleet made it known that Shepard was found alive and was in recovery aboard a human ship. The cheering from the krogans almost made the ground shake.

The communications with the fleet were difficult, as far as Wrex knew, the human Admiral Hackett and what remained of asari and turian command were taking measures to restore the communications and infrastructure as soon as possible.

Until then he was content to lend his warriors to the recovery efforts. Even after the Reapers trust between his people and the rest of the galaxy was in short supply and the gesture of krogans working with others to salvage the situation was a significant one.

"Urdnot Wrex, come in, this is major Petrov of the N7 Zeta team, come in." His comm unit went alive.

"I am listening."

"We have located a group of Krogan fighters near Waterloo area, they are heavily injured, one in critical condition, requesting a team of your men for assistance with the rescue."

"Granted," Wrex switched the frequency. "Tosh, contact the human zeta team, and move to their location."

"Yes Chief."

Grunt tapped his shoulder and pointed upwards. "Looks like someone from the fleet is coming." He said.

Wrex followed his gaze and saw a shuttle break from the cloud cover and circle around above the square. There was precious little air traffic in the area with most of the shuttles being used in the rescue operations in space. So this was a bit strange. His comm unit hissed with static a moment later.

"Urdnot Wrex. This is shuttle AN0728, requesting a confirmation of your location." Wrex was silent for a moment.

"I am right below you. What is it?" He said.

"I have operative Miranda Lawson here, she requests an audience in private."

Miranda Lawson, Wrex knew that name, she was an ex-cerberus agent who worked with Shepard and Grunt back when they were up against the Collectors.

"Granted, I will meet her in 5 minutes."

Grunt growled beside him. "Lawson, what the hell is she doing here? She was supposed to be looking after Shepard."

"We're about to find out…"

The shuttle swung past the remains of a downed Reaper dreadnaught that collapsed on some historical building near the square and hovered over the ground for a few moments before landing on a relatively rubble-free spot.

Wrex and Grunt approached the shuttle as its door hissed open and a woman in black and white bodyglove emerged from the compartment. She appeared to be in a hurry.

"What is it?" Wrex said without a greeting, he heard from Grunt that this woman was a capable and reliable ally but she used to be with the Cerberus and as far as he knew high in it's chain of command at some point so he had a hard time respecting her.

"Urdont Wrex." Miranda nodded "Grunt."

"Miranda". Grunt nodded in response.

"I have some big news and bad ones at that. I need to speak with you in private right now."

Wrex shrugged "Consider this a private spot. Grunt will be present."

"I was actually hoping he would be. Also I need your to contact a number of people, namely Jacob Tailor, Zaeed Massani, Kasumi Goto and Jack."

"That's a lot to ask Lawson, if they are alive, they can be miles away from here."

Miranda crossed her arms "Turst me, Wrex, when you hear what I have to say you will realize that it's worth the trouble."

Wrex considered her words. Then looked at Grunt, who just shrugged.

Miranda took a breath "It's about Shepard Wrex, he is in trouble."

Wrex 's eyes went wide "Shepard? What's wrong? They said he is in recovery."

"No Wrex, he is in trouble, and the sooner you do what I ask, the sooner we can do something about it."

Wrex activated his comm unit again. "This is Urdnot Wrex, I need the following people contacted and instructed to move to my location immediately, Jacob Tailor, Zaeed Massani, Kasumi Goto, Codename Jack, no questions, understood?"

After a small pause there was a confirmation from the operator.

Wrex Turned to Miranda, "Now tell me everything Lawson."

**Location:** Admiral Hackett's flagship solar system, low orbit of planet Earth

Shepard tensed his arms under the restraints and took three deep breaths to calm down his racing heartbeat. Another interrogation session just finished and he needed some way to vent his frustration. The simple actions that his position allowed were not nearly enough but it was better than nothing. He contemplated how it came to this. The manner of the questioning left no doubts in him, they were afraid of him now, they suspected he was indoctrinated, and truth be told he couldn't say he was sure himself. He saw his own eyes in the mirror when he woke up. They were almost exact copy of Illusive Man's eyes and Shepard knew too well what the implants in the Cerberus leader's head did to him In the end.

He could only speculate what may have caused his own implants to become so visible and altered. His memories of what happened on the Citadel were vague and plagued with nightmare visions of the Catalyst, the death of Anderson and his confrontation with the indoctrinated and husk-like Illusive Man.

The Alliance interrogator was forcing him trough these memories in an attempt to dig out his possible indoctrination, and to assure the scared leaders that Shepard wasn't a new sleeper agent for the Reapers who employed some new tactics to catch the organics off guard.

The fact that he understood their motives did not lessen his anger at them though. He sacrificed so much to save them, yet now he was locked up in a dark room on a restraining chair with pain inducing electrodes attached to his spine in case he was hesitant to talk on some subject. They only employed them once at the first session since Shepard had nothing to hide, but the fact still stank.

Worse yet, there were whispers… He managed to hide it from the interrogator for now, but the thought of revealing their existence has crossed his mind more than once. They could be right in their suspicions after all. He could hear things… they reminded him of the nightmares he had after leaving Earth. Parts of phrases and half-formed memories. Voices he could recognize but couldn't place. And then there was the strange feeling in his eyes. As if his vision was limited, he could swear there were things just on the edges of his vision that he couldn't focus on but knew they were there.

For the first time in quite some time Commander John Shepard was afraid. He was scared of facing the reality of that despite being able to resist the Reapers all this time he could end up yet another unwilling puppet in their scheme. Even if that wasn't true there could always be even worse possibility of him loosing his mind.

As he sat there in darkness and silence the whispers started to return. Shepard shook his head, to clear his mind and for a moment it worked, but they were still there just at the edge of hearing. He knew that the interrogator was probably watching him now and again he played with the thought of revealing the whispers. But then he decided against it. If he were to fight for his sanity it was his own fight, the mind-wrenching techniques of black-ops sadists wouldn't help here.

"Do...Not…Resist…It is all in vain…There is only one way to your freedom…"

This whisper was clearer than others before it. The voice sounded strangely familiar but unlike others this wasn't a fragment of a phrase from his memory.

"Fear…what you became…will not understand…salvation…"

Shepard blinked, this was becoming troublesome. He was used to having nightmares in his sleep but not when he was clearly awake.

"All…lies...truth…will…free."

What if it was all a trick? Maybe they were just playing a recording of the whispers in the room to see how he will react.

"Find…the source…destiny…the catalyst of change…"

This was maddening. Destiny? This sounded like some supernatural nonsense.

Suddenly the light returned and with it the voice of the interrogator.

"Commander Shepard."

"Hey buddy, I missed you!"

"Commander, tell me how are you feeling."

"Like a tired solider who is put into by a bunch of assholes for no particular reason." Shepard retorted.

There was a pause. "Commander, remain civil or we will be forced to apply measures to you again."

"I think I have a right to lighten my mood somehow, don't you think?"

"Stay on topic. How are you feeling? Do you experience some discomfort?"

Was he right, that the whispers were just a ploy?

"No, I am fine."

"You're not being honest Shepard, you have to work with us if you want this to be over."

"I am honest damn you! What do you expect me to say? That I am all fine and dandy with you locking me up and trying to torture me while keeping me in the dark concerning people I care about?"

"The information you seek will be shared if you cooperate."

"Cooperate how? Confess that I am under Reaper control? I am not."

"We have reasons to believe otherwise."

"Pray tell."

"We are monitoring your implants activity. There is a pattern of energy fluctuations in them. They are forming into constant flow."

Shepard was stunned for a moment.

"A what?"

"Commander, your implants are sending a signal."

"No, that can't be right. I don't feel anything."

That had to be a lie, they were trying to break him, to force him to confess.

"We can't discern what it is or where it goes, but the pattern is there."

The whispers… could it be the cause.

"Tell us Commander, tell us what the signal is."

"I don't know. I don't feel any signal. I am not feeling anything."

Part of his mind screamed at him to tell them about the whispers. But he couldn't do it. It would be signing his death sentence. He couldn't do it. He was not done yet.

"We can apply more severe methods of extracting the information Shepard."

"You don't scare me."

"I know, but it will be regrettable if you force us into doing this."

He had to get out of here. He had to find a way to deal with whatever was happening to him, but in here.

"One last chance Commander, tell us what the signal is and what is going on."

"I can't tell you because I don't know!"

"Not…ready…for the truth…will not…accept…" The whispering voice cut in sharp and strong in his head. Shepard cried out as the sensation sent a shock of pain into his brain.

"Commander?" Shepard ground his teeth and screamed again as the pain grew and grew spreading trough his head and into his eyes.

A voice of Admiral Hackett cut in the comm unit. "Shepard! Get some medical staff in there!"

Shepard trashed in his restraints the agonizing pain too much to bear. He could barely make out as the door into the room swung open and people rushed in.

There were arms on him, hastily unlocking the shackles, trying to hold him back as the agony sent his body into motion.

"Run…the answers…elsewhere!" the whisper turned into a roar and through the veil of pain Shepard could hardly discern it from his own thoughts now. Then his vision was swept, a tsunami of images flooded into his mind reminiscent of the time when he first interacted with a Prothean Beacon on Eden prime. Once again he saw death and decay. But not in the form of the Reapers, he saw it in the form of an all-encompassing darkness that spread trough world after world, he saw different species butchering each other and raging storms of galactic proportions that devoured all life. And then at the center of it all he saw himself standing firm against the coming darkness. And then a single word "the Catalyst".

"Apply sedative! He is delirious!"

He felt a hand grab his wrist and a needle pressed to his skin.

"No! Not now!"

With a sudden clarity the haze slipped leaving Shepard with a strange certainty and determination for his next actions.

"What the fu…" the face of the man pressing a needle to Shepard's wrist changed into a shocked grimace as John grabbed his arm forcing him to release the syringe. A moment later Shepard slammed his forehead into the man's face sending him flying to the floor.

"Sound the alarm!" the other man cried out trying to raise a gun from the holster on his hip.

Shepard was faster, diving out of the restraint chair his fist connecting with the man's jaw with an audible crack.

He wasn't even thinking what he was doing, his actions based on pure combat instinct and the pulsing thought that he needed to get out by any means necessary. Another guard swung a shock baton at him. Shepard deflected the blow with his arm, caught the opponent's wrist and twisted the baton out of his hand swinging it back at the guard and hitting him on the side. The man screamed and collapsed to the floor. The remaining guard raised his gun but wasn't prepared for Shepard to toss the shock baton into his face. The guard dodged the projectile only to receive a savage kick to the knee and be downed by an overhead punch a moment later.

"We have an emergency in sector 8! Repeat an emergency in sector 8! All guards apply letha.."

"Abort the last order!" Hackett cut in.

"Shepard! What are you doing? Stop it."

Shepard looked at the downed guards then to the door. The alarm was already sounding through the ship or wherever he was. For a moment he wondered what the hell was he doing, but then the certainty that drove him to act returned.

"I am leaving Admiral." He said then picked up a fallen gun and rushed out of the door.

Admiral Hackett was stunned. He couldn't believe what he just saw. Were the suspicions right? Was Shepard indoctrinated?

"Admiral! Send your men after him immediately!" the asari councilor exclaimed.

"Hackett!" the turian primarch shook the Admiral's shoulder.

Hackett snapped out of his momentary stupor.

"This is Admiral Hackett. Sound the ship-wide alarm! All guards and personnel are to be on a lookout for Commander Shepard. If located restrain him immediately! Do not, I repeat do not apply lethal force under any circumstances!"

"What? Are you blind? He just took out a squad of your men, armed himself and escaped? Do you need further proof that he is not on out side anymore?" The asari pointed at the view-screen. Now showing the room with 5 bodies laying on the floor.

The black-ops officer who was interrogating Shepard slowly rose from his chair.

"The room scanners show that they are alive, just unconscious. Shepard could have killed them but he didn't." he mentioned.

"So what? He is armed now and can kill the next people who he will run into."

Hackett glared at the alien.

"I am not ordering my men to shoot Shepard. He is still in shock from what happened, and we can't tell what his mental condition is."

"You're in denial of facts Admiral! We can't risk anything in the current situation! You're willing to risk everything only for the sake of your precious war hero!"

Hackett squared his jaw and fought down a surge of anger.

"Either follow my orders while on my ship, or get out councilor. I will not repeat myself."

The two Asari commandos who were in the room as an escort for the councilor raised their guns. The human marines and the black ops officer raised their weapons in response.

"Enough!" the turian primarch interposed himself between the asari and human.

"We just fought side by side and you're already at your throats! Right now we need to capture Shepard and determine what is going on with him, not kill each other over what to do with him! Shepard managed to unite us, and now you do this!"

The councilor nodded for her guards to stand down and they lowered their weapons with the humans following suit.

"Get off my ship councilor." Hackett said calmly.

"You will regret this, human." The asari hissed then she and her guards stormed out of the room.

The turian shook his head. "You're playing a dangerous game Admiral." He said.

Hackett remained silent.

"I will try to calm her down Admiral, but the risk is really great. You and Shepard have my sympathy, but you must face the reality of what is happening."

With that the primarch left the room as well.

Hackett returned his gaze to the view-screen a med team already rushed into the interrogation room, administering help to the injured.

The black-ops officer behind Hackett cleared his thorat.

"Yes major?" Suddenly the Admiral was feeling really tired.

"Sir, I didn't want to mention this with the aliens present. When the commotion started I picked up the signal from Shepard's implants again. Right at the moment when he had that seizure."

Hackett just looked at the officer.

"Only this time the signal wasn't coming from them, it was coming to them. I managed to track the signal."

"And?"

"With the scanners working on limited power it might be inaccurate…But the signal was coming from the designated location of a disabled reaper dubbed the Harbinger sir."

Hackett felt as if the whole world suddenly collapsed around him.

"My God…"

To be continued.


End file.
